India and China plan to sign new border security agreement

August 12, 2013, 12:46 UTC+3The agreement envisions measures to prevent the invasion of the demarcation line

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NEW DELHI, August 12 (Itar-Tass) - India and China are working on a new agreement on border security (the Border Defense Cooperation Agreement), NDTV Channel quotes a source at the Indian Defense Ministry as saying on Monday.

The agreement envisions measures to prevent the invasion of the demarcation line between India and China. The demarcation line is the actual border. In addition, both countries are planning to agree not to persecute each other’s patrols on the demarcation line and not to open fire. Representatives of the Indian Defense Ministry and servicemen are expected to arrive in Beijing in September to discuss a draft agreement.

Special envoys have been instructed to work out further measures to maintain peace on the border after the talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Li Keqiang. “We instructed our special envoys to discuss further measures, which will help up maintain peace and calm on the border. We agreed that the special envoys would meet soon to continue discussions on this issue in order to sign the agreement as soon as possible,” the Indian premier said.

The border issue is one of the most painful issues in relations between India and China. In the middle of April the incident occurred on the demarcation line after Chinese servicemen invaded the territory of India in Jammu and Kashmir and deployed a tent camp. After the talks the parties fell back their troops to the original positions and agreed to observe status quo.

The length of the demarcation line is of over 4,000 kilometers. In 1996 India and China signed an agreement under which no state could take actions to revise it.